A year ago, lending looked like the obvious next act for payments companies. Then AI happened. In the latest Public Ledger, @jevgenijs looks at what’s happening across Toast, Block and Shopify. All three have lending businesses built on the data flowing through their platforms. But on their latest earnings calls, lending barely got a look in. Instead, it was all about AI. Toast is building agents for marketing, scheduling, payroll, bookkeeping and tax. Block has Managerbot watching sellers’ businesses for problems. Shopify is putting Sidekick at the heart of how merchants use their data. And you can see why. Software has better margins, there’s no loan book carrying credit risk, and the opportunity can extend well beyond what a merchant is able to borrow. But lending still makes a lot of money. Has AI become the better business, or just the better story? Read @jevgenijs’ latest analysis on This Week in Fitnech.